Ozomatli makes pre-Fest visit to St. Aug

Maria Montoya/The Times-PicayuneMembers of the St. Augustine Marching band jam with a member of Ozomatli. Some of the school's marching band members were selected to play with Ozomatli at Jazzfest Friday, April 25 at the Gentilly Stage.

St. Augustine Junior Chris Keys never heard of the Grammy Award-winning band Ozomatli before they dropped into his band class on Friday (April 25).

"They are rocking, they don't have one sound, but many sounds," said Chris, as he watched his fellow bandmates learn a song the band recently wrote in ode to New Orleans. "It's amazing that they're going to be headlining Jazzfest, and they decided to come by here before they play. They're not from New Orleans ... But their vibe is diverse, so diverse like us, like New Orleans."

Keys slapped his hands on his legs to the beat of the band's strong horns, dramatic drum lines and soulful lyrics:

Let the good times roll...
the sad times are gone
The sun's going to shine,
Shine down on your feet.
The sad times are gone.
Let the good times roll.

"Bam, ya'll got it, now put some sauce on it!" said Ozomatli trombone player Sheff to the students. Unbeknownst to the band players, the Los Angeles band planned to pick three to four of the students to join them for the 5:25 set on the Gentilly stage Friday evening.

"The opportunity, the experience to play a stage with a major name on one of Jazzfest's main stages, that's something I never had the chance to do as a high school student. This is amazing," said Virgil Tiller, band director of the St. Augustine Marching 100, who admitted that, when iniatally contacted by the band, he was not familiar with them. "But I went online and I downloaded everything they recorded and it was so exciting because their sound, it totally lends itself to New Orleans."

Maria Montoya/The Times-PicayuneSaxaphonist Uli of Ozomatli plays with some St. Augustine Marching band members.

Drummer Danovon Calhoun Betters, 17, didn't take but a minute to tap into the "Ozo" sound. Sitting behind the school drum set, he beat along to the band's cue to songs he'd never heard before.

"Man their music is powerful, and it has such a great message," Danovon said. "I would love to be with them up on that stage this afternoon, they're incredible and really cool for coming here to rock with us."

For the band members, the pit stop at the school was part of their dedication to community outreach. Wherever they are, saxaphonist Uli said they try to reach out to young folks with a passion for music.

"There are few towns in this country where you can go and hear people of this age play such high caliber horn, it's so important here," Uli said. "We love that ... We wish we could take everyone up on stage with us because they're all so talented.

Uli came in two days earlier than the rest of his bandmates to take in as much of the city he could pre-Jazzfest.

"We feel we have a musical and cultural debt to New Orleans, " Uli said. "The city's contributed so much to what music is, we're happy to be here."

Trumpet player Asdru said he only wishes more of the country would've recognized "sooner rather than later" the great contributions New Orleans made to the world.

"We did think this would just be fun," Asdru added. "But also, to us, it was just (screwed) up that the rest of the world forgot this city, when it needed help the most ... We don't plan on ever forgetting New Orleans."